YAKUTIA, Siberia, Russia — When Pavel Efimov took a walk last summer along the shores of the Tirekhytakh River in Yakutia, Siberia, he probably never imagined that the melting permafrost would yield a discovery scary enough to haunt his nightmares for weeks to come.
Efimov stumbled across a giant wolf head with fur and fangs still intact, according to the Siberian Times. He knew immediately this was no normal, modern wolf. The head alone was half the size of the body of most wolves alive today.
It turns out the head belonged to an animal that roamed the region more than 40,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch, the Times reported.
Still snarling after 40,000 years, a giant Pleistocene wolf discovered in Yakutia.
— The Siberian Times (@siberian_times) June 8, 2019
Sensational find of head of the beast with its brain intact, preserved since prehistoric times in permafrost.https://t.co/w4FoRB16Ur pic.twitter.com/8QbthEfay1
The Severed Head of a Giant 40,000-Year-Old Wolf Discovered in Yakutia, Russia https://t.co/cIzIXqMG9V via @LiveScience
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 11, 2019
Efimov turned the head over to scientists and they revealed it belonged to a fully grown ancient wolf between 2 and 4 years old when it died. It's the first discovery of a fully grown wolf from the Pleistocene period, according to the Times.
The head went on display in Tokyo as part of a wooly mammoth display, the newspaper reported. Its next stop is the Swedish Museum of Natural History, where scientists plan to compare genetic material from the ancient wolf with its modern relatives.
40,000-years-old, with its brain still intact, a giant severed Ice Age wolf head has been found perfectly preserved.
— nzherald (@nzherald) June 12, 2019
It lost its head approximately 8,000 years before humans arrived in the area — so what happened to the beast?https://t.co/7jwksKriOD
A Giant Severed Wolf Head From 40,000 Years Ago Has Been Unearthed in Siberia https://t.co/3YGixwV7f7
— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) June 11, 2019
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